A solid and relatively brief review of moral psychology and the conscience. A little more philosophical and abstract than I prefer, but informative and provocative.

I interviewed Patricia Churchland about this on my podcast.

http://nousthepodcast.libsyn.com/patricia-churchland-on-how-we-evolved-a-conscience

"Patricia Churchland is the queen of neurophilosophy. She’s on fine form in this interview - charming, funny and occasionally savage as we range over her views on the nature of philosophy, the neuroscience and evolution of morality, and consider what’s wrong with the two major ethical traditions in western thought: utilitarianism and Kantianism."

The aptly named Churchland has written a thoughtful and well-researched tome on the idea of "conscience," a term we know without having a precise definition. She delves into brain science that has hardwired us to feel moral obligation for certain things, talks about societal influence, and points out that we may observe the same happening or read the same text as another person, but our consciences will tell us to react differently from each other--or we may even feel conflicted within ourselves. Will appeal to readers who enjoy books about religion, philosophy, and science.